The ancient Egyptians choose the form of the pyramid to build everlasting monuments to themselves on the plateau of Giza.
Today, these monuments still stand and are considered to be among the seven wonders of the ancient world. Modern photographers often look to them for inspiration and have found in them a form that endures the ages. Portrait photographers often pose their subjects in a pyramid form in order to accomplish two objects, namely to fit everyone in the frame while still maintaining visual interest in the portrait.

Recently, Tim Vansant shared an old family snapshot taken years ago on his grandmother’s 75th birthday. What a great thing is it to have a snapshot of his grandmother, mother, and brothers and sisters to record such an auspicious occasion. The picture not only records that moment, but through the period dress of the subjects and background decor, the viewer of the photograph is transported back in time to epoch in which when the picture was taken.

Just as the Pyramids of Giza hold hidden treasures and stores of memories, so too does Tim’s family portrait. If you have a sharp eye, you will discover some hidden gems in the photograph which will help you to improve your own photography skills. For example, subjects 2, 4 and 5 seem to be looking off to the right, while subjects 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 are looking straight at the camera. In composing your photographs, try to engage everyone so that they are facing the same direction. (Tim doesn’t remember exactly what was going on, but he thinks it was probably his uncle distracting some of the people.)

Another hidden gem in this portrait is in the backdrop. It looks like everyone is gathered around Grandma’s chair. As a result, there is some furniture and papers present around the edges of the pictures. If time permits, and your models are willing to wait a few extra minutes, try to clear the area of debris and unused furniture. This eliminates anything that might detract for the people who are being photographed.

One final suggestion would be to add more light. An expensive lighting kit isn’t necessary. In an improv situation where the flash on the camera is insufficient, create some temporary studio lighting by taking a lamp and point the top of it (where the light comes out of the lampshade) towards the group. You may need to experiment a little, holding the light above the group, shining down on them, or bouncing the light off an adjacent wall so that it reflects onto them. You must take care not to create new shadows

I am very grateful that Tim was gracious enough to share this photograph with us for critique here. I hope you will find inspiration in this article to go out and create your own photo family memory (another great pyramid) while taking portraits of your loved ones.

If you have a photograph that you would like me to analyze, praise or otherwise talk up, and you think it would be useful to teach or inspire other people to create their own photo family memories, please send it to me at texaiano - at - gmail - dot - com. You can also start the ball rolling by dropping me a note.

Now, go enjoy your family and make the world a better place by working on some photo family memories of your own.

Your Fellow “Creative Genius ” ,
Texaiano

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It’s now the middle of May, and one day after Mother’s Day. May is full of family activities. There’s high school and college graduation. Most high schools put their prom during May. As I mentioned in my “Foto Memory Minute” yesterday, there are a lot of local festivals and rodeos to attend. So, what have you done to strengthen your family this month? I wanted to highlight two or three opportunities in particular.

Perhaps this is a day late, but yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the U.S. Did you do something nice for your mother? Did you call her and let her know that you were thinking of her and tell her thanks for all of the sacrifices that she made while she was raising you and for all of the nice things that she did for you? If not, it’s not too late.

I know it’s not a perfect world. If it were, every one would have a dear mother who met them at the door after school with a hug and a plate of warm, homemade cookies. In reality, divorce and sheer economic realities have forced many mothers out of the home. So…if you don’t have a mother to show your appreciation to, what about your grandmother, aunt, sister or wife? Even if you have daughters, they will grow up to be mothers some day. Mother’s day is a day to recognize not only our mother, wife and grandmother, but all women in general - that special aunt, not to mention our daughters, cousins, and nieces. So, go ahead and reach out to the women in your life. Aside from the usual flowers, jewelry and chocolate, you can make a unique gift by putting together a photo montage of all of your favourite snap-shots to present to her. Don’t forget to call or visit them too. As mom always says, the best and most thoughtful gifts don’t come from the store.

Memorial Day, at the end of May, is another special day set aside for honoring special people - the nation’s fallen veterans. Now, I don’t want to get into a debate about the merits of the current conflict. What I do want to do, however, is to remind you to support the troops. Remember and honor the men and women who serve in the nation’s military, both in the present conflict, as well as the past. Draw your family together and do something for the troops - write cards, put together care packages, raise a flag to pole and fly the flag…whatever. Just do something together. By honoring the veterans as a family, you instill a sense of pride, community and ownership in your children. You also build memories. Even though technically Memorial Day is designated to honor fallen veterans, and Veterans Day is meant to honor living veterans, you can still take this opportunity, if someone in your family has served in the military, your father, uncle, grandfather, brother, or son, make them the guest of honor at a family awards banquet that focuses on their story of heroism. You can also interview your veteran and record their story in your family history. If you don’t have any veterans in your family, and don’t have any desire to get involved with today’s military people, pick a military conflict in our nation’s history and have each family member research it. Try to be as fair and unbiased as possible and then get together to share the history that you have discovered. You can get pictures of past conflicts from the National Archives to add to a scrap book or digital scrap book.

Memorial Day is also the start of the summer bar-b-que season. Gather all of your family and friends around. Have everyone bring their favorite outside dish. And enjoy good food, good company, and good weather. (Even our VEGAN friends can enjoy a backyard bar-b-que, since there are no rules limiting a cook out to sausage, hamburgers, ribs and brisket.)

Now that you are armed with some new ideas, go out and make some memories with your family.

-Texaiano

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